Domestic appliances, for example water-conducting domestic appliances such as dishwashers and also refrigerators, in which operating elements and/or display elements which provide information about the operating state of the appliance are disposed in a covered manner such that they can no longer be perceived visually by an operator when the door of the domestic appliance is closed, thus not having a negative effect on the aesthetic appearance of the domestic appliance, are increasingly available. However they pose the problem that in the case of particularly quiet domestic appliances an operator is then unable to discern whether or not a dishwasher for example has completed a wash program. This can only be established by opening the door of the domestic appliance and thereby interrupting the wash program. Various proposed solutions are known in the prior art to allow the operating state to be displayed nevertheless.
For example a dishwasher is known from EP 0 691 100 B1, in which an illuminated signal facility is integrated in the end face of a door in such a manner that when the door is closed, it cannot be perceived visually by an operator. In order to conduct a visual signal from the illuminated signal facility to the front face of the domestic appliance, light-conducting means are provided to forward the light signal according to EP 0 691 100 B1.
In contrast a domestic appliance, in which illuminating means are disposed in the region of a recessed base strip and are configured to project a spot of light onto the floor region in front of the domestic appliance, thus allowing information to be provided about the operating state of the domestic appliance, is known from DE 102 55 006 A1.
However in this instance the visibility of the projected light signal serving to provide information about the status of the domestic appliance is a function of the optical properties of the floor covering. This can mean that the light signal is difficult to discern due to poor optical properties of the floor covering.